Volunteers' Week: Volunteering at The Fine Foundation Wild Chesil Centre
The Fine Foundation Wild Chesil Centre volunteer, Sue Frazer, shares her experience volunteering at Dorset Wildlife Trust and what she enjoys most about her role.
Volunteering is back in full swing at the newly named ‘Fine Foundation Wild Chesil Centre’. The impact of Covid-19 has inevitably brought changes to the way we work. For me the removal of the Perspex screen at the front desk was the last stage in our return to normality and all volunteers were consulted before this decision was made. Now at last, we were able to speak freely to our visitors once more!
There are new benches and tables outside the centre, newly refurbished planters with spring flowers and shrubs and a bird observation platform with information boards that look out over the Fleet Lagoon. My favourite is the one that shows the huge distances the birds fly from their time spent in Africa to our Chesil Beach and Fleet Lagoon. I am truly amazed that they can do this journey twice a year. The RSPB lead Little Tern Project starts up again this year, which works on on protecting the colony from predators and reducing disturbance. You can come in to the Wild Chesil Centre to find out more about this fascinating little bird that chooses to fly all the way from west Africa to lay its eggs on Chesil Beach.
Photo credit: Margaret Holland
When turning up for my volunteer sessions, I’m always looking forward to whatever the day brings, whether it’s working on the computer at the welcome desk, stocking the shelves in the shop area, speaking with children and families about the centre, making sure the Touch Table and activity table is well stocked with things to do and doing whatever needs doing as requested by centre staff.
Opportunities for other volunteering roles based at the Wild Chesil Centre are increasing. There are now Community Engagement Volunteers out and about on Chesil Beach and Hamm Common speaking with members of the public, promoting positive recreational practices and codes of conduct, carrying out surveys and sharing enthusiasm about the diverse range of wildlife that is found at the site. Centre staff also request our help with planned events and activities for families, usually during school holidays. I have been involved in two citizen science projects - Shoresearch surveys of the local rocky shores near by and monthly crab surveys at The Fine Foundation Wild Seas Centre at Kimmeridge. Here we are monitoring the Montagu or furrowed crab, common in Cornwall and Devon and increasingly found on our rocky shores. Both of these citizen science projects collect useful data about our marine habitats.
Julie Hatcher / Crab surveying
The Wild Chesil Centre is a busy place, sharing some of our space with a brilliant café run by ‘Taste’, so there are people coming and going all day. Two screens show live footage of the Fleet Lagoon from a camera set up by Dorset Wildlife Trust to show visitors in the café or in the exhibition areas the incredible variety of fish, seaweed and other creatures we have in the Lagoon. We’ve had to learn about what might be there too so that we can pass on that information to visitors.
All the staff I work with are approachable, always helpful and incredibly knowledgeable about the wildlife that surrounds the centre. It’s amazing what questions you get asked, it doesn’t matter that you don’t know all the answers, you can ask the staff member on duty or look it up on the computer.
Our super centre newsletter is always a source of up-to-date information and I am kept fully informed about what is going on and am always appreciative of any training offered, visits to other sites and information given to volunteers. It makes a huge difference to my time at the centre as I feel I can talk with confidence about most things on display.
Although I am a life member of Dorset Wildlife Trust, being a volunteer also means I am gifting my time and skills, passing on my love of wildlife and habitats by engaging with the visitors in an enthusiastic way. At the same time, I am part of a great team and learning how to solve day-to-day problems when they arise so that the centre runs efficiently, and the visitors feel welcome.
Find out more about volunteering at Dorset Wildlife Trust and the opportunities available here.